Falkirk Council
Insight
Housing Market Update 2011 - 2015
Research & Information
March 2016
The purpose of this Insight is to provide up to date information on house sales in the Falkirk
Council area. Data has been analysed from the Register of Sasines for 2011 to 2015. For
more details on earlier periods see the previous reports. The Register of Sasines is records of
the transfer of ownership of land or of a building.
Property Sales
The graph below shows the quarterly house sales of all genuine house sales within the Falkirk
Council area; this excludes transfers of inheritance, divorce and right to buy. The graph illustrates
an increase in the number of house sales since 2011 in the Falkirk Council area. The lowest
number of house sales was in the first quarter of 2011 with 401 sales. The highest number of
house sales was in quarter 3 of 2014 with 798 house sales. There is a clear drop in sales in the
first quarter of every year, house sales pick up in the second quarter in the year. 2015 quarter 1
had 497 house sales which rose to 727 in quarter 2 then in quarter 3 and quarter 4 sales were
relatively similar with 704 and 707 respectively.
Figure 1: Quarterly House Sales during 2011-2015
900
800
Number of Sales
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Quarter
Source: Register of Sasines
Figure 2 illustrates the number of new build house sales started to increase from the beginning of
2011 where 143 house sales were new builds. It remained relatively stable and increased to 186
in the second half of 2013, it dropped slightly at the beginning of 2014 to 153 and then increased
Research & Information
Housing Market
March 16
again to the highest in the 4 years to 244 in the second half of 2014. New Builds decreased again
to 190 in the first half of 2015 but for the second half of 2015 increased to 222.
The half yearly figures show the number of RTB house sales have been decreasing with less than
50 sales from 2011 to the second half of 2013. In the first half of 2014 RTB sales rose to 76 and
then dropped below 50 again for the second half of 2014. The first half of 2015 RTB sales
dropped further to 46 but slightly increased to 54 for the second half of 2015.
The RTB resales have been on the decline since the second half of 2012 with 244 RTB resales
down to 107 in the second half of 2013. In both the first and second half of 2014 RTB resales
were around 170 and again dropped to 128 in the first half of 2015, RTB resales increased
slightly to 131 for the second half of 2015.
Within the ‘other’ category the number of properties sold between the first half of 2011 and the
beginning of 2013 remained between 600 and 800. The number of properties increased with over
1,000 sold in the second half of 2013, this continued to the end of 2014. For the first half of 2015
the number of properties sold dropped to 906, but improved with 1,058 selling in the second half
of 2015.
Figure 2: Type of property sold from 2011 to 2015
1200
1000
Number of Sales
800
Other
New build
600
RTB
RTB resale
400
200
0
2011/1
2011/2
2012/1
2012/2
2013/1 2013/2
Half Year
2014/1
2014/2
2015/1
2015/2
Source: Register of Sasines
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Research & Information
Housing Market
March 16
House Prices
The following graph presents information on the average house price in each quarter together
with comparisons for Scotland and the UK. The analysis of this data has excluded RTB sales and
other transactions where no move took place, for example property transfer as a result of divorce
or inheritance.
Figure 3: Average House Prices 2011-2015
£250,000
£200,000
£150,000
£100,000
Falkirk
Scotland
UK
£50,000
£-
Source: Register of Sasines, HBOS Housing Research
The graph clearly illustrates UK house prices are higher than both the Falkirk and Scottish
average prices. The smallest gap between the Falkirk average and the UK average was 18% in
2014/3. However, the gap increased since 2014/3 to 61% in 2015/4. The Falkirk house prices
were similar with the Scottish house prices in 2014/1 and 2014/2, the Falkirk house prices peaked
in 2014/3 with £159,601. The spike in 2014/3 can be attributed to the increase in the average
price of a new build and other property within this quarter.
In 2015 the Falkirk house prices have been below the Scottish average with the average in
Falkirk for 2015/1 being £139,475, for 2015/2 it was £131,950, in 2015/3 it was £131,735 and for
2015/4 the average was £129,359. Falkirk has seen a noticeable increase in the average house
price the lowest being £114,103 in 2014/1 to around £130,000 in 2015.
Table 1: Average House Prices by Sector 2011-2015
Sector
New build
RTB
RTB resale
Other
2011
£186,444
£34,647
£72,010
£123,050
2012
£189,573
£35,706
£71,193
£121,169
2013
£195,763
£34,840
£71,329
£114,483
2014
£178,986
£53,941
£82,772
£133,437
2015
£190,604
£40,278
£80,286
£129,404
% change from
2011 to 2015
2.2%
16.3%
11.5%
5.2%
Source: Register of Sasines
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Research & Information
Housing Market
March 16
A comparison can also be made with the individual sectors and the average house price in Falkirk
shown in Table 1. Note that the RTB sales are at a discounted price.
New house prices increased from the start of 2011 to 2013, they decreased in 2014 to £178,986
but increased again in 2015 to £190,621. RTB sales were consistently around £30,000 to £40,000
from 2011 to 2013, increased in 2014 to £53,941 but decreased again to £41,283 in 2015. RTB
re-sale prices are around double the RTB sales. The highest average price for a RTB re-sale
house was £82,772 in 2014, the rest of years have remained consistently around £70,000 to
£80,000. Other house prices show the lowest average was in 2013 with £114,483, this increased
to £133,437 in 2014 but decreased again to £127,345 in 2015.
Sales by Wards
Comparisons can be made in the number of sales of property for Ward areas in Falkirk from
2011-2015. From 2011 to 2015 all Wards had a general increase in the number of property sales.
From 2011 to 2015 Denny and Banknock had the greatest increase in house sales with an
increase of 55.9%, followed by Lower Braes with a 46.4% increase. Grangemouth had the lowest
increase in house sales with 6.1% increase.
Figure 4: Number of Property Sales by Ward 2011-2015
450
400
350
300
250
200
2011
Upper Braes
Lower Braes
2015
Falkirk South
0
Falkirk North
2014
Bonnybridge and Larbert
50
Carse, Kinaird and Tryst
2013
Denny and Banknock
100
Grangemouth
2012
Bo'ness and Blackness
150
Source: Register of Sasines
The table below gives the change in average house prices in all wards from 2011 to 2015. Most
Ward areas increased in the average house price from 2011 with the exception of Carse, Kinnaird
and Tryst and Bonnybridge and Larbert where both Wards decreased by 12.2%. Grangemouth
has seen an 54.1% increase in the average house prices since 2011 from £87,407 to £134,667.
This is due to a number of houses being sold over £200,000 in both 2014 and 2015.
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Research & Information
Housing Market
March 16
Table 2: Average House Price by Ward 2011-2015*
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
% change from
2011 to 2015
Bo'ness and Blackness
£111,048
£111,783
£110,941
£112,791
£ 123,689
11.4%
Grangemouth
£87,407
£84,228
£78,065
£185,690
£ 134,667
54.1%
Denny and Banknock
£119,434
£108,053
£109,154
£123,540
£ 120,543
0.9%
Carse, Kinaird and Tryst
£154,427
£148,465
£150,742
£129,868
£ 135,541
-12.2%
Bonnybridge and Larbert
£138,618
£136,150
£135,182
£129,564
£ 121,748
-12.2%
Falkirk North
£98,856
£96,792
£92,447
£121,201
£ 133,866
35.4%
Falkirk South
£111,235
£116,990
£106,535
£117,835
£ 129,267
16.2%
Lower Braes
£131,161
£118,381
£136,169
£145,628
£ 143,467
9.4%
Upper Braes
£137,511
£144,713
£145,852
£128,381
£ 141,942
3.2%
Ward
Source: Register of Sasines
Source:
Register of Sasines
HBOS Housing Research
For further information
Falkirk Council
Research and Information Team
Corporate and Housing Services
Falkirk Council FK1 5RS
Tel: (01324) 506016
E-mail: r&[email protected]
Website: www.falkirk.gov.uk
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